Paul McCartney schedules four NJ and NY concerts

by JAY LUSTIG

Paul McCartney will perform at the Prudential Center in Newark on Sept. 11.

Paul McCartney has scheduled what amounts to a mini-tour of New Jersey and New York in September, with shows at the Prudential Center in Newark, Sept. 11; Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, Sept. 15; the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Sept. 19; and the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., Sept. 26.

Newark tickets will go on sale May 5 at 10 a.m.; visit prucenter.com. There will also be a pre-sale for American Express Card Members beginning at 10 a.m. May 1.

This will be the first concert at the Prudential Center for the ex-Beatle, who turns 75 in June. It will also be his first appearance, ever, in New Jersey’s largest city.

The Newark show will undoubtedly have special significance for McCartney, since he spent Sept. 11, 2001 in New York. He was scheduled to be on a flight out of JFK Airport that day, but it was cancelled. He was subsequently inspired to write his song “Freedom,” and donated all proceeds from the single to 9/11 victims.

The four New Jersey and New York shows are considered part of McCartney’s One on One Tour, which began in April 2016 and came to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford in August.

I wrote when reviewing that show for the Bergen Record/NorthJersey.com

The 74-year-old ex-Beatle has the ability to make you feel like he’s singing to you alone, in a sea of people. He flashed his still-boyish grin and exuded easy-going warmth Sunday night at his One on One concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford — the tour’s only New Jersey stop — and played hit after hit for two hours and 35 minutes.

When he showed a bit of vocal strain on “Maybe I’m Amazed,” it was almost reassuring. Yes, this guy is really a mortal, after all.

McCartney will be backed in September by the same band he has used for more than 10 years: Paul “Wix” Wickens on keyboards, Brian Ray on bass and guitar, Rusty Anderson on guitar and Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums.

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